Bowling ball having means for indicating a correct hooked delivery



May 9, 1967 H. RUSKIN 3,318,598

BOWLING BALL HAVING" MEANS FOR INDI CATING A CORRECT HOOKED DELIVERY Filed Sept. 16. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i JFJ- 35 i INVEJNTOR. HA'NRV RUSK/N May 9, 1967 H. RUSKIN 3318,5598

BOWLING BALL HAVING MEANS FOR INDICATING A CORRECT HOOKED DELIVERY Filed Sept. 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 OOQO OOO OO v A a INVENTOR. HENRY RUSK/N ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,318,598 BOWLING BALL HAVING MEANS FOR INDICAT. ING A CORRECT HOOKED DELIVERY Henry Ruskin, Cranford, NJ., assignor to Ruskin Development & Manufacturing Corp., Flushing, NY. Substituted for abandoned application Ser. No. 109,696,

May 12, 1961. This application Sept. 16, 1966, Ser.

10 Claims. (Cl. 273-63) This invention relates to a bowling ball of unique structure.

The object of the game of bowling is to produce as many strikes as possible. That is, to knock down the ten pins with one blow of the bowling ball. Experience has shown that, to produce a strike, it is necessary to strike the first pin with the ball while the ball has a hook motion. The hook is imparted to the ball by producing a spin thereof at the instant of throwing. The art of bowling is directly related to the production of the aforesaid spin.

The principal object of the instant invention is to produce a bowling ball having such indicating means thereupon that the bowler will know whether the ball has had the proper spin imparted to it or not. By the use of the instant invention the bowler will know whether too much or too little spin has been imparted to the ball and can correct his technique accordingly.

Conventionally, since the usual bowling ball does not have such indicating means thereupon, the bowler normally does not know whether too much or too little spin has been imparted to the hall. For this reason correction of his technique must depend upon the results ac complished which causes slowness in learning and production of numerous errors.

Various methods of placing the indicating means on a bowling ball will be described in this specification and various types of such indicating means will also be shown.

The invention may be briefly described as comprising a bowling ball having circumferential indicating means thereoupon. These circumferential indicating means are preferably equatorially disposed and linear. In the preferred modification of this invention the indicating means are partially disposed between thumb hole and finger holes of the bowling ball.

The invention will be further described by reference to the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this specification.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bowling ball having indicating means thereupon. The indicating means in this figure consist of an adhesively secured tape.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the indicia tape shown in FIG. 1.

. FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are detail views of three different forms of the tape shown in FIG. 1 showing the various designs that could be employed to constitute indicating means for use in this invention.

FIG. 4 is a bowling ball made in accordance with this invention wherein the indicating means consist of a plurality of linearly aligned spaced pegs extending interiorly from the surface of said bowling ball.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the structure shown in FIG. 4 taken along lines 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a bowling ball made in accordance with this invention wherein the indicating means are molded into the body of the bowling ball.

FIG. 7 is a section-a1 view of the form of bowling ball shown in FIG. 6 taken along lines 77 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the form of bowling ball shown in FIG. 6 taken along lines 88 of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrammatic views showing the path that a correctly-thrown bowling ball will take from the time that it is thrown until it reaches the head pin.

Referring now to the forms of the instant invention shown in the drawings herein for a detailed description thereof, the bowling ball 11 is preferably formed of a moldable material such as high-impact resins, wood or similar material, and is provided with a thumb hole 12 and a plurality of finger holes 13. Finger holes 13 are spaced from one another and thumb hole 12 is spaced from finger holes 13. The spacing between these holes is determined by the anatomy of the person for Whom the bowling ball is designed.

In FIG. 1 a band 14 of adhesive material, such as pressure-sensitive tape, is equatorially and circumferentially secured to the surface of bowling ball and partially extends between thumb hole 12 and finger holes 13. Tape 14 bears linearly disposed indicating means thereupon which may consist of a line 16, a plurality of spaced dots 15 or a row of printing 17.

In FIG. 4 the indicating means which are also equatorially and circumferentially disposed about the surface of bowling ball 11 consist of a plurality of linearly aligned spaced pegs 18 which extend interiorly from the surface 19 of bowling ball 11.

In FIG. 6 the indicating means consist of a band 20 of plastic material which is molded into the bowling ball at the time that the ball is manufactured.

In order to insure visibility of the indicating means upon the bowling ball such means, regardless of the form that they take, should preferably be of a different color than that of the surface 19 of the bowling ball. Best visibility occurs when the indicating means are made of a contrasting color, that is, for example, if the bowling ball is black, the indicating means should be made white.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show the method of employment of the bowling ball of this invention. The bowling ball 11 thrown in the conventional manner and the operator thereof tries to aim the ball at the head pin 1 (FIG. 10) with the correct hook thereupon. If the ball is aimed correctly, then the operator will be able to see a clear, straight line just before ball 11 reaches head pin 1. On the other hand, if too much or too little spin has been imparted to the ball, the line will wobble and the operator will merely see a blur.

The foregoing specific embodiments of the instant invention as set forth in the specification herein are for illustrative purposes and for purposes of example only. Various changes and modifications may obviously be made within the spirit and scope of this invention and would occur to those skilled in this art.

I claim:

1. A bowling ball for knocking down ten pins, including a body portion, plurality of finger holes spaced from said thumb hole, and means for indicating correct hooked delivery of the ball comprising equatorial circumferential indicating means extending completely around said bowling ball and between said thumb hole and finger holes, said circumferential indicating means being so oriented relative to said thumb and finger holes that said circumferential indicating means will come into clear non-wobbling view. just before reaching the ten pins only after a correct hooked delivery.

2. A bowling ball as described in claim 1 wherein said circumferential indicating means consist of a band of a different color than that of the bowling ball.

3. A bowling ball as described in claim 1 wherein said indicating means consist of a plurality of spaced dots of a contrasting color to that of the bowling ball.

4. A bowling ball as described in claim 1 wherein said indicating means consist of a line of printing of a contrasting color to that of the bowling ball.

5. A bowling ball as in claim 1 wherein said circumferential indicating means comprises a band adhesively secured to said bowling ball and bearing linear indicating means thereupon of a contrasting color to the color of said bowling ball.

6. A bowling ball as in claim 1 wherein said indicating means comprises a plurality of linearly aligned spaced pegs of a contrasting color to that of said bowling ball extending interiorly from the surface thereof.

7. A bowling ball in accordance with claim 1, wherein said indicating means comprises a band molded into the ball.

8. A bowling ball in accordance with claim 1, wherein the orientation of said indicating means relative to said thumb and finger holes is substantially as shown in FIG- URES 1, 4 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A bowling ball in accordance with claim 1, wherein said circumferential indicating means crosses an imaginary straight line etxending between said thumb hole and at least one of said finger holes at an angle that departs substantially from both parallelism and perpendicularity relative to that imaginary line.

10. A bowling ball for knocking down ten pins including a body portion having a thumb hole and a finger hole spaced from said thumb hole, and means for indicat- References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1955 De Vries 273183 2/1960 Pratt 273-26 References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1883 Farley. 7/ 1958 Ross. 4/ 1963 Watterlohn.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Examiner.

25 G. J. MARLO, Assistant Examiner. 

10. A BOWLING BALL FOR KNOCKING DOWN TEN PINS INCLUDING A BODY PORTION HAVING A THUMB HOLE AND A FINGER HOLE SPACED FROM SAID THUMB HOLE, AND MEANS FOR INDICATING A CORRECT HOOKED DELIVERY OF THE BALL COMPRISING EQUATORIAL CIRCUMFERENTIAL INDICATING MEANS EXTENDING COMPLETELY AROUND SAID BOWLING BALL AND BETWEEN SAID THUMB HOLE AND SAID FINGER HOLE, SAID CIRCUMFERENTIAL 